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She turned her back on me, not the least bit concerned about facing away from an enemy, and walked away.

I watched as it took a day for Lily to repair the ship with her crew. From my observations, I determined she was their leader—the captain of the ship. Instead of ordering everyone around while she sat on her ass, she helped them fell trees and repair the ship. She got her hands dirty, pulled out the splinters without complaint, and got the ship back in shape.

Invisible to mortals, I just watched. Mesmerized by this woman.

They slept through the night, and when they woke up the next morning, Lily gave the order.

“Prepare the masts. We head northeast until we reach the Southern Isles.”

The Barbarians were due to cross my island on their trek to the southwest. If she and her crew left now, it was all but certain they would cross paths. One look at Lily and they would want her for themselves. To imprison her and make her a slave—and probably a wife to birth their daughters because of her beauty and fire.

It wasn’t my place to intervene with the living. I should let this happen and leave her to her doom. Perhaps it was what Talon deserved after he’d cheated death and eternal suffering. But an ache formed over my heart at the thought, that a woman with so much promise would never meet her potential. Chained to a wall and held down by a group of men, she would endure a fate no woman should ever know.

I should let this happen.

It wasn’t my place to intervene.

She wasn’t my concern.

“Wait a day before you depart.”

She noticeably stilled when she heard my voice, recognizing it right away. Her head turned to look at me, trepidation on her face because she assumed she wasn’t the only one who could see me. Her crew was about to panic.

“I reveal myself only to you.” I knew I wasn’t supposed to interfere with the living, not when my domain was the dead. But I broke that vow, whatever the consequences would be. “A dangerous armada approaches. Leave the island now, and you’ll cross their path.”

Just the look in her eyes alone told me that she didn’t believe a word I said. That she would never trust me, not when I’d already told her that her father had betrayed his oath and she would pay for it. I wished I could take back the threats that increased the distance between us, before she was able to put herself in harm’s way.

“I do not deceive you, Lily Rothschild.”

“You just want to keep me here?—”

“I don’t need to keep you here to get what I want,” I said. “The bond is broken by blood.”

The sails were dropped, and the masts were turned. The tide had risen, and gradually, the galleon began its slow progress over the incoming waves as it headed out to sea, the moonlight the only illumination, the stars their only company.

“Drop anchor.” I would never beg, let alone a stranger. But the plea escaped my lips because whatever happened to her happened to me, inexplicably. “Heed my warning before it’s too late.”

The galleon continued to inch farther out to sea, leaving the safety of the shore and moving to open water—and she ignored me. “Lighten the ship. Drop our supplies. We need to reach the Southern Isles at breakneck speed.” So, she believed me, but only slightly, not enough to stay on my shores.

No one questioned her command. It was clear they all revered her, even though a woman on a ship was said to be bad luck. “Aye, Captain Rothschild.”

But I couldn’t be impressed for long, not when I knew the battle that awaited her at sea. The Barbarians were ruthless anarchists. Men who didn’t live by a code. Men who believed women were inferior, whose only purpose was to birth sons and cook. Lily would defy them—and they would break her spirit. “Speed will not save you?—”

“Be gone.”

I watched her command that ship like a seasoned captain. Navigate the heavy galleon like it was the size of a sloop. Watched her tell her men to fire at the enemy ships while evading hits of their own. I watched her fight a man nearly three times her size and kill him with a ruthlessness I’d never seen a woman show before. Watched her try to save her crew when they were already dead.

I’d never seen a woman like her.

I’d encountered powerful men in life and in death, but I’d never encountered anyone like her before. The blood of kings screamed in her veins. Not a single tear was shed even when all seemed hopeless. Grown men would have begged and pleaded at the sight of those monsters, but she insulted them.

When they took her captive on the ship, I knew I should return to the underworld and forget it happened. I’d already intervened once when I told her not to set sail, and it wasn’t my fault she didn’t listen. She wasn’t my responsibility, regardless of what happened to her.

But fuck, I couldn’t let this happen to her.

I didn’t know why I cared, didn’t know why it mattered. I’d known her for a single day, but that was enough for her to leave her mark on my heart. She scarred me with her presence, and I knew whether I intervened or not, I would never forget her as long as I existed.

If I’d met her as a mortal man, I would have pursued her relentlessly until she was mine.